Financial crisis: errors creep in

How much impact did a Mail on Sunday piece have on Société Générale's share tumble earlier this week? The French press leads on the economic turmoil as French banks feel the heat, slapping a triple zero rating on the credit ratings agencies along the way. That's the focus for Friday, 12th August, 2011.

The left-wing paper Libération headlines “Triple Zero”. It has a two-page report into what it says is the hidden face of the credit ratings agencies "panicking the planet". It says the analysts working for them are “eggheads” who work to speed, more so than analysts at the IMF and World Bank. And it quotes an economist saying Standard & Poor’s is more focused on short-term economic shifts, which explains why it changes its ratings more often than the other two (Moody's and Fitch). The paper reports that workloads have doubled for the credit ratings' agencies. There is under-staffing, and errors creep in.